


Someone take me home

by sunlightschadow



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Minho is a Good Friend (Maze Runner), Newt Lives (Maze Runner), Nightmares, Oblivious Newt (Maze Runner), Oblivious Thomas (Maze Runner), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon Fix-It, Rescue Missions, Safe Haven (Maze Runner), Slow Burn, WICKED | WCKD is Not Good, a lot of medicial and science things I made up so this would work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-25 08:27:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30086259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlightschadow/pseuds/sunlightschadow
Summary: It's been ten months since the fall of the Last City. Ten months of trying to rebuild their lives, living in safety and trying to move on. Ten months of trying to heal from losses that feel too big to heal from. But at least Wicked is gone and they're free now.But then someone shows up bearing news that change everything and the Gladers and their friends go off onto one last rescue mission.
Relationships: Newt/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 34





	1. Thomas

**Author's Note:**

> I have a good chunk of this fic already written but there's still a bit to go. My estimate of 33 chapters might also change but I just wanted to assure that this fic will be finished. For now I will try to upload new chapters whenever I have the time for it but I will try to aim for weekly! 
> 
> The actual newtmas part will take a while to pick up for reasons that will become clear But there is a lot of newtmas sprinkled in throughout this! My other bigger focus in this is on friendships and storybuilding, just to give you an idea of what this fic will be like. (also this fic is based on the movie-verse!) 
> 
> The chapter titles will always indicate the character who's POV it's written from, or simply the character who gets the biggest focus in that chapter! 
> 
> This first chapter is not beta read because I wanted to just really get it out now that I finally found a title for this fic. English is not my native language so please excuse any mistakes! 
> 
> For now, I hope you will enjoy this first chapter and I'm newtcallsmetommy on tumblr if you wanna find me there <3

Thomas was standing by the sea, the salty water washing around his feet in a gentle whisper and the wind playing lazy tug of war with his clothes and hair. The ever bright sun was hanging high in the sky over Safe Haven, warming the beach to a warm but still bearable level. Laughter that sounded distinctively like Sonya's and Harriet's could be heard from somewhere behind him in the camp.

Minho, Frypan and Gally where sitting a little off to the side, but not too far from him, having their well deserved lunch break. He listened to Frypan excitedly telling the other two about a recipe he wanted to try out now that the new batch of tomatoes that they had grown could be picked soon. Minho made a sarcastic but good natured remark about when the wedding ceremony for him and his kitchen would be since he was having such an intimate relationship with it and Gally almost choked on his water because laughing and drinking were not a good combination. 

Thomas was glad that Minho and Gally had become friends. Even if his own relationship with Gally was still at times strained he knew he himself and Gally were something like tentative friends by now as well. Frypan had gotten used to him being around the fastest though and acted a bit as if he had never been gone.

He felt a little smile tug at his lips at his friends antics as he looked out over the sea. He had to admit Minho's humour was snarky but still very funny. It wasn't always up his alley but most of the time it at least managed to get a laughing scoff out of Newt-

And there it was. The calm atmosphere that had been there before shattered for Thomas like someone had taken a hammer to a windowpane, cutting his mind and heart open on the sharp scattered edges. 

Immediately he tried to breathe like Brenda had shown him. A deep breath in through the nose, hold for a moment, breathe out through the mouth, repeat. The breath burned on it's way down his throat but he kept trying, mentally chanting to himself “It's okay. It's okay. It's okay” like a mantra. 

His brain really had to remind him of the gaping hole in his life at the worst of moments. Namely the ones were he felt some resemblance of calm for once. But then again, to be fair, how could he feel real calm and happiness when his best friend wasn't with him? When Newt didn't get to experience it either?

He desperately tried to concentrate on the feeling of warm water around his feet, the familiar weight of the necklace against his chest, his fingernails digging into his palms almost bitingly, anything to ground himself really. Slowly, his breathing got deeper, calmer, less painful. He was here now, it was okay. (It wasn't, not at all, but he had to hold onto the thought that it was gonna be okay, at least one day.)

Thomas didn't want to think about his almost panic attack just now. He didn't want to think about the fact that even happy memories were so tinted with pain he could barely deal with it. So he decided not to think about it, banish any thoughts about it from his mind, outrun it. He was good at running after all.

Not that it mattered much in this case, the thoughts and anxiety would always catch up. Grab him when he was weak, in the form of nightmares and his throat screamed raw until Minho came rushing to him, or Brenda, or Frypan, or even Jorge at times. Even Gally was there occasionally but usually always with one of the others in tow, usually Brenda, knowing he alone might not be as big of a comfort to Thomas after everything. Thomas wasn't the only one either who's past and thoughts caught up to him at night but they all helped each other and had systems in place that worked at least somewhat.

But right now it was day time and he always felt just this slightest bit more in control then, not as reminded of that terrible, horrible, heartbreaking night.

His friends sitting close by were also helping without even being aware of it. Thomas didn't want to go back to sit with them yet though, didn't want to worry them in case he got panicked again.

So instead he stared out at the sea, the big mass of water stretching out in front of him, puffy white foam crowning the calmly crashing blue. He stared at the gently moving waves, the sun reflecting off of them in sparks of light, the...the dark spot at the horizon, small but unmistakably having to be a boat moving towards them at good speed. 

An entirely different wave of anxiety crashed over him and he promptly turned and ran the short distance to his friends.

He was still a Runner, not just in his mind but also physically. Minho and him going on morning runs most days of the week, a habit that felt familiar and that they wanted to give a new, happier context. Not running to find a way out of the Maze anymore but simply running for the sake of it and to spend some quality friend time together. Plus, running was a big part of their job as Explorers in Safe Haven. 

Coming to a stop in front of his very perplexed looking friends he whipped an arm around, pointing at the sea. “Someone's coming. It's a boat. Looks small but it seems to be going fast so it cold be hostile.”

Watching the others scramble to their feet with familiar serious and ready-to-fight expressions on their faces made something sickening spread through Thomas stomach. He hated this, hated how used to fighting they still were even ten months after escaping the Last City and living in safety ever since.

That ability to switch to fighting mode so quickly might just be what would safe them again in the potentially even near future but that didn't mean that Thomas had to like why the reflex was there in the first place.

Minho, still easily slipping into a leader role from his time as a Keeper and now head of the Explorers, pointed at Frypan. “You go get everyone who isn't a fighter and bring them into the woods to the safe spot we talked about.” Moving his hand around to Gally he ordered “You get the weapons out and distribute them to the fighters.”

Lastly he pointed at Thomas. “You and me will inform Vince and the others that there's a boat coming for us.” For just a moment the stern mask he had hastily slapped on slipped and his facial expression morphed into one of concern. “Look out for yourselves and the others, guys.”

Thomas knew Minho usually insisted on making Thomas the leader of any given situation but he was glad he had taken over right now. The almost panic attack he had felt coming on earlier was still lingering in his blood and the new spike of anxiety at his discovery was certainly not helping.

A bunch of “Got it's.” and quick hugs were given and then everyone rushed of to do their respective tasks. Adrenaline buzzed through Thomas veins like a colony of angry wasps as he ran with Minho to their meeting hall.

It was the biggest building they managed to build so far and Gally's pride and joy, a wooden rectangular build with enough space to get everyone of the council inside, while still having enough space for storing important things like maps and their radios and so on. Thankfully Vince was just stepping out of it with Jorge and Brenda when they arrived. Before he could even open his mouth to ask what was going on Thomas pointed towards the water again. “A boat is headed for us. Doesn't look too big but it's coming in pretty fast.”

Thomas hadn't said it but the fear that it was Wicked coming for them was still big. Wicked should have fallen along with the Last City but they all had a hard time believing were fully gone.

There had been evacuation efforts in the Last City, potentially getting out Wicked's important doctors and personnel for all they knew. So sadly the likelihood of them finding them was not fully off the table as much as they wanted it to be, as much as most people were convinced Wicked was gone for good. 

By the time they were back at the beach Frypan had shepherded everyone who wasn't a fighter into the woods and the fighters that had been equipped by Gally stood in a line of defence on the sand. The tension was tangible in the air as they all watched as the boat got steadily closer and closer.

Thomas had been right with his first observation, it wasn't a particularly big boat, which was at least a small relief. It could still hold danger though, who knows who was on board.

Even if it wasn't Wicked it could still be a bunch of infected or otherwise hostile people for all they knew. And it wasn't like they could do much if they were infected, they only had one dose of the Cure after all. The thought made a sour feeling rise up in his throat. He swallowed to suppress the bitter taste and the feeling of panic alike. 

By his estimation it took another painful thirty minutes before the boat was almost at the beach. In the meantime they had secured their camp better, hiding some shooters behind buildings and sending a few fighters to the others hiding in the woods to give them protection if needed.

Now that it was more visible and upon closer inspection the boat seemed to be an old fishing boat. It looked terribly run down and was going a bit too fast in Thomas opinion. Did the people on board not know how to slow it down?

It certainly seemed like that when the boat seemed to not slow down the tiniest bit before simply crashing into a sand bank very close to the shoreline, almost splashing everyone who was too close with a mixture of saltwater and sand before finally coming to a standstill.

Everyone was a combination of frozen in shock and on the edge of reacting, their guns and knives and spears grabbed tightly in their hands. Thomas himself was holding a gun and almost dropped it when a loud female voice from inside the boat startled him.

“Ouch! Of course nowww you decide to give up on me! Couldn't have waited 'till the journey is over! Stupid boat!” 

Thomas and Minho gave each other a confused look. Looking around he saw that everyone else looked just as perplexed. Jorge looked unsure of wherever to laugh at the person inside the boat or to stay serious, the corners of his mouth ticking up briefly before pulling down again. 

Just then a girl emerged from the boat, walking backwards through the cabin door. She was seemingly not noticing the tiny army standing around the boat, too caught up giving the boat a death glare as if it had personally insulted her by apparently breaking shortly before she had arrived at the beach.

Swinging her dark blonde ponytail over her back she started to descend from the side of the boat with the help of a rope ladder, still seeming unaware to the stunned silent people around her. That was at least until she was almost at the bottom of the ladder and called out “Don't worry guys, I noticed you, I just wanted to get down first!”

Gally was the first one to snap back into action, marching up to the girl once she had walked through the water and onto the beach, pointing his rifle directly at her head. “Who are you?” He sounded threatening but the girl simply arched an eyebrow up at him and slowly lifted her hands in surrender. It looked almost aloof but Thomas could see that it was at least partially an act in the tense hold of her body. 

“I'm Lucy,” she said, maintaining intense eye contact with Gally a moment longer before looking around. That obviously wasn't enough information for Gally because he stepped another step forward and now had the barrel of the rifle pressed directly to the side of her head. Thomas had to give her credit for the only sign of fear she was showing being a nervous swallow and a light twitch of her hands, looking a bit like she was suppressing snapping into action. 

“I will ask differently then. What do you want here?” Gally practically growled. The anger he clearly showed reminded Thomas of the times in the Glade and it suddenly hit him that Gally was once again seeing his safe place get threatened. Understandably, he didn't seem to take too well to that. Usually Gally was way calmer then this. 

The girl's next words shocked Thomas into lowering his gun, probably a stupid move since it gave him away, when the girl stated “I'm here to ask for help. I want to preferably speak to Thomas and Minho, or either of them if only one is still alive.” The way her eyes snapped over to him and the slightest smile stretched onto her face made it clear she had indeed noticed who he was.

Her smile took on a weirdly relieved note for a moment before she schooled her expression again and looked back at Gally. She didn't turn around to him though, probably not wanting to prompt him to react violently to her moving, she just kind of side-eyed him. Thomas greatly doubted he would actually shoot her but the girl obviously didn't know that.

“So I'm gonna go out on a limb here, angry eyebrows, dead set on protecting his home, tall, so Gally?” Gally's expression showed shock for the first time since she arrived. “Yup bulls eye,” she - Lucy - said seemingly to herself, giving a little smirk before turning serious again and looking back at the residents of Safe Haven.

“Gally here, obviously Thomas and Minho, Frypan, Brenda, Jorge and Vince and if they want to Sonya, Harriet and Aris can stay too! I would appreciate if the rest of the people here could at least go out of earshot, I've got kind of sensitive matters to discuss!” Lucy said, raising her voice so everyone at the beach could hear her.

Gally pressed his gun into her head harder. “Don't think you can just make demands here.” he hissed, silently but sternly. 

“Gally,” Minho finally spoke. “I don't think she poses any danger. We're outnumbering her by far and it doesn't look like she's even armed. Plus, she's completely alone,” he said with a nod to the boat. On it stood Aris and Harriet, giving a thumbs up for an 'all clear'. They must have climbed into the boat to check for others hiding in it while he was distracted by Lucy asking for them all.

Gally sighed and glared at the girl before finally lowering his gun and taking a step back. Thomas hadn't seen him this angry in months but then Thomas realized that it was probably equal parts anger and fear cursing through him at the moment. Gally was very protective of his home after all as he had learned. Lucy gave a long exhale and slowly lowered her hands, keeping them well visible though.

“Everybody go back to the huts, we got it under control! Someone go inform Frypan and the others but keep your distance for now!” Vince yelled to the people at the beach, stepping forward and towards the girl.

“Thomas, Minho, Gally, Jorge, Brenda, you stay here for now,” he added. “I will fill you in later!” he called out to Aris and Harriet who had climbed off the boat and joined Sonya at the beach. The three gave a nod and then made their way towards the huts as well, Harriet lacing her fingers with Sonya's.

The people Vince had requested to stay crowded in a half circle around Lucy but if she was intimidated she didn't let it show. Instead that weirdly relieved smile spread onto her face again.

She looked around the round of people, fixing everyone with her light grey-blue eyes for a moment as if trying to match names to faces. “It's nice to finally meet you all,” she said with a wistful sounding sigh. That statement just confused Thomas further, how did she know about them?

“I bet you have a lot of questions about my sudden arrival and I will tell you everything, I'm just trying to find a way to ease into this somehow because it will hit hard,” her eyes turned sad at saying that and it looked so genuine to Thomas that he found himself trusting her the tiniest bit more. 

“Just talk, girl, we're listening,” Brenda deadpanned, sounding almost aggressive but the tension in her shoulders giving away her anxiety was clearly visible. Lucy, seemingly unphased by Brenda's tone, nodded and looked around the circle once more before beginning her explanation.

“I escaped from Wicked.” And well, there the fear of them still being out there proved itself to be valid.

“They're still a thing, even after everything that happened with Last City. They expanded one of their outposts into a functional smaller version of the Last City. I'm, well, I'm immune and they caught me about nine months ago. I managed to get out roughly a month ago but my friend is more valuable to them and I couldn't take him along with me, his tracker is planted too close to his heart, we could badly just cut that out. So I need your help to get him out of there and we need someone to operate on him. I have an idea for a doctor but I need your help with that too. I barely just escaped and I couldn't get him out on my own, let alone take him along without getting that tracker out. They would have just caught us again.” 

She sucked in a shaking breath and suddenly stared right into Thomas' eyes and before she even said anything a sinking feeling made it's home in his chest.

It only got worse when she suddenly started stuttering, sounding unsure on how to deliver the next news. “I-my-my friend well uh, how do I ease you into this?” She looked away from Thomas and at the others again and then gave a small chuckle that seemed absolutely drenched in sadness.

“Well he uh, he's British, blond, got this limp, says 'bloody' a lot and rolls his eyes for a sport.” Even before the next words left her mouth Thomas already was hit with a mix of clarity and despair and hope and disbelief and suddenly the sadness and sympathy in her eyes made sense when she looked at him directly again. 

“It's Newt. I need your help to break Newt out of Wicked.”


	2. Thomas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are questions to be answered and trust to be gained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write some more for the later part of this fic today so I decided to move my shedule up a bit for this chapter and to post it early. I hope you will like it! <3 Also trigger warning for underage drinking mention. Thought I should give the warning just in case.

Thomas hadn't even realized his knees had given out until they hit the sandy ground. He stared up at Lucy with tears in his disbelieving eyes. “No. No that can't be true...Newt's dead...the others couldn't take his body because they had to leave because Lawrence men stormed the plaza and they would have been shot if they had stayed even a moment longer...but he was dead...”

The tears were streaming freely over Thomas face now. He subconsciously lifted a hand and gripped Newt's necklace through his shirt. Lucy's eyes snapped to the movement but she didn't make any comments, just continued to look at Thomas, her eyes filled with sadness, while waiting for him to get out whatever he needed to get out.

“And I had to go to Wicked because my-my blood is the Cure and I...” he trailed off, but what he probably had wanted to say still rang clear. 'And I could have saved him if I had known that earlier.'

Thomas didn't even think about the fact that confirming to a technically complete stranger that he was indeed the Cure might not be a good idea. He was too overwhelmed with the rush of multiple different emotions cursing through him, ranging from absolute despair to careful hopefulness. 

The despair and sadness and grief won out over the hope for a moment though because Newt still being alive simply couldn't be true. “If he had been alive then we would have never left him behind. I-I would have never left him behind!” he screamed that last part at Lucy, who didn't even seem shocked by the outburst, if anything she looked even sadder.

Slowly she knelt down in the sand in front of him, fixing Thomas with a look that reflected a part of his pain. “I can only give you the information we have from the spotty memories that Newt has. Well that and what we managed to get from the doctors or Wicked's leader whenever they talked about how he should be thankful they saved him.” There was a flicker of unbridled hatred in her eyes for a moment before she took a deep breath and at the next blink her expression was back to before. 

“It seems the knife in his chest missed his heart just barely and was in deep enough to keep pressure on the wound. Your blood was on the blade and got into his bloodstream like that. The shock from the wound plus your blood battling with the Flare send his body into a kind of shock, making him appear dead when he wasn't. He somehow stayed unharmed in that shoot out and when they came back to look for survivors of their people and equipment I assume, Wicked found him.” Her gaze that had drifted away from him during her retelling snapped back to him. “I would call him one lucky bastard if it wasn't for the whole imprisoned by Wicked thing.”

Thomas let out a disbelieving chuckle that sounded all kinds of wrong to his ears. “Yeah one could say that...” He was still fiddling with the necklace, having pulled it out of his shirt without realizing. “So he's alive? And how is he now? Is he immune now?” He tried to concentrate on getting more information instead of letting himself get overwhelmed by his emotions. Asking questions and assessing the situation was one of his best working coping mechanisms with uncertainty, spurred on by his natural curiosity. 

“He's alive and immune now, yes. Your blood cured him but unlike Wicked probably wanted it didn't turn him into a full Cure himself. From what I gathered his body used your blood like a blueprint but it's not fully replicating what your blood can do to the extent needed for it to be the Cure,” Lucy explained. 

The flicker of intense hatred came back to life in her eyes suddenly. “They're putting him through those simulations, I think you probably know which I mean, because...his blood is more potent even if not a full Cure, they can still make longer lasting serum from it, but his blood is only potent enough to work as such when his system is under extremely high stress.”

She didn't have to spell out what that meant. Wicked was essentially torturing Newt to get their own vials of the closest thing they could get to the Cure. 

Suddenly her eyes softened considerably again and Lucy put a gentle but firm hand onto Thomas' shoulder. That girl changed intense moods so fast it was almost giving Thomas whiplash.

“He gave me something in case you guys need more proof,” she said, taking her hand off again after squeezing his shoulder and then reaching into the pocket of her jeans jacket. It was a testament to how shocked everyone was that no one reacted, she could be pulling out a knife for all they knew.

Instead of a knife though she pulled out a tiny beat up looking metal box and clipped it open before carefully taking out what looked to be a letter. Thomas choked on a sob and took it from her offering hand with trembling fingers.

His eyes skimmed the page, it was clearly Newt's handwriting and Thomas couldn't believe it. He hadn't thought that he would ever see another thing, apart from the letter in his necklace, written in Newt's handwriting ever again.

**Dear, well, everyone,**

**(And Tommy, if you're still alive out there, dear Tommy, it seems like the letter I wrote you wasn't my last one after all. Who could have bloody predicted that.)**

Thomas choked on another sob. He briefly glanced up and around and saw everyone with tears in their eyes, staring at him and the letter. Minho, who had sunken to the ground next to him, set a comforting hand onto his shoulder and that gave him the strength to try to bite back the tears so he could read the letter to everyone.

**I'm alive. Trust me it's as much of a surprise to me as it probably is to you. If this letter reached you it means Lucy managed to get to you somehow. She will probably try to convince you to save me and I would obviously appreciate that a lot but I don't want any lives lost on my account. So while that may be asking a lot, especially of Tommy, if he's still there, please plan your rescue well. Lucy somehow managed to break out of this buggin' hell hole so I'm assuming she will be able to help you break back in too. She was my only friend in here, I would appreciate if you could keep her save.**

**I mean it, if you decide to come for me, be careful guys. I can't have any of you bloody morons die just because you're careless. And organize a doctor to get this buggin' tracker out of me, that would be right kind of ya. I'm not leading Wicked right back to Safe Haven.**

**In case saving me is not an option, still thank you for everything guys, you were the best friends I could have ever asked for.**

**Take care.**

**Newt**

Everyone was openly crying and sobbing when Thomas reached the end of the letter. Minho's hand on Thomas' shoulder had turned from reassuring to seemingly the only thing holding the former Runner up. Not that Thomas minded, the touch was grounding.

A thing with the letter bugged him though and looked at Lucy. She somehow read the silent question in his eyes. “Wicked convinced him he killed you. For their bloody Stressors probably. Or they truly think you died. It took me a good while to get him to even consider you might still be alive.”

Thomas felt his heart break even more at that, the pieces feeling like someone had shattered a mirror inside his chest. Brenda sank to the ground next to Thomas and grabbed his arm, looking like she was attempting to get her tears under control judging by the deep breaths she was trying to take. At the same time she started to gently rub Thomas' arm with her thumb. The touch was a comforting gesture. 

“I don't mean to be that guy but how can we trust that Wicked didn't send you to lead us into a trap?” Vince suddenly said, addressing Lucy. Before anyone could offer their own thoughts on that Lucy was already speaking.

“I know things,” she said, letting herself fall from a kneeling to a sitting position and shrugging. “Newt told me some stuff that should probably proof that it's really him who I wanna rescue.” Vince made a hand motion that probably was meant to say 'Well then talk.'

“I know why he's got a limp. Admittedly he told me that because and I quote 'Then Thomas and Minho will know they can trust you.' and because it came up in a simulation and we had a conversation about it afterwards,” she started off with. Thomas snapped his head up at the same time as Minho did. Minho turned to him first for some reason, staring into Thomas eyes and then giving a sigh at whatever he saw. 

“I didn't even know he told you but off course he told you. I should have known, I rarely saw him trust anyone like he trusted you.” That statement send a feeling through Thomas that he couldn't put into words. Then Minho turned his head to Lucy, ignoring everyone giving him confused looks. “Wicked knows why too though, so I'm sorry but you gotta give us better stories then that.”

Lucy started to play with the sleeves of her jeans jacket. It didn't look like a nervous habit though, more like it helped her think. Suddenly her eyes lit up when she apparently settled on a story she thought might convince them. 

“I've got something from when you guys were planning Minho's rescue. I can't know that if I'm from Wicked right? It's also a considerably more light-hearted story. Which we probably could need right now. ”she said, her posture straightening.

This time it was Brenda who gestured for her to continue. Meanwhile she had released Thomas arm from her grip but had continued to stay seated next to him. With the way she sat almost slightly in front of him it seemed a bit like she was there and ready to leap into action in case they couldn't trust Lucy after all. He remembered her words about hope having killed more of her friends then the Scorch and the Flare combined and he understood her protectiveness. Gally sunk down to the floor next to her and grabbed Brenda's hand as silent support. 

Thomas though was starting to believe Lucy more and more, especially since Newt seemingly had told her about how he had gotten his limp. He didn't just give that information out randomly. It also indeed seemed like something he would tell her because he knew it would get especially Thomas and Minho to listen. 

“He told me about the night were you had cemented the final plan for rescuing Minho from the train so to wind down from all the stress Frypan decided to cook up as much of a 'feast' as he could,” Lucy said, launching into the story. Thomas remembered that night, at least vaguely, since someone had somehow gotten their hands on alcohol as well and he had had his fair share of that. 

“Everyone was different stages of drunk at some point and then Vince told some joke that Newt didn't remember when he told me because the only thing that burned itself into his memory was apparently Brenda laughing so hard that her drink came out of her nose,” Lucy said, grinning at Brenda, who tried to look unimpressed but was starting to turn a little red. If from anger or embarrassment, Thomas couldn't tell.

“Then apparently Frypan, who's a lightweight according to Newt, proceeded to almost fall into the bonfire after someone convinced him to drink and only Jorge's quick reflexes saved him from a burned butt,” she turned from looking at Jorge to giving Thomas a tiny smirk and he had a feeling he knew where this story was going considering the ache he remembered having felt in his face the next morning.

“Then you, Tomm-Thomas tried to get up without help at the end of the night which was a mistake.” Had she just almost called him 'Tommy'? “You managed to get up but according to Newt you took like two steps before you lost your balance and he tried to make a grab for you but couldn't get to you in time and you landed face first on the thankfully sand floor. But uh, he also drank a bit so he stumbled over your feet when he tried to go help you up and had to catch his fall on your back.”

Thomas just stared at her and then whipped his head around to the others. “That's where my weird back pain the next day came from?!”he exclaimed. Jorge chuckled and answered his question. “It indeed is, hermano. I had to help the both of you and then also pretty much everyone else get back to the sleeping hall in the end because apparently me and Vince are the only ones who can hold their liquor.”

Thomas looked back to Lucy and saw her looking silently pleased about the fact that the story had made everyone a bit happier again. Somehow, that made Thomas decide to trust her and he voiced his thoughts. “Alright. I believe you.” 

Everyone's heads whipped around to him and Lucy heaved a relieved sigh. “Oh thank god,” she said and looked at Thomas. “I'm really really glad you do. I need to get him out of there. Like he said in the letter, he was my only friend in there too. Pretty much my only true friend in a long time at general honestly,” she said with a tiny almost sad smile. Thomas wondered just how long she had been alone before befriending Newt. Or how long she had been in bad company out in the Scorch, if Wicked had grabbed her from there, which was likely. 

“I believe you too.” Minho said, giving a nod in Lucy's direction. Everyone else chimed in with their own nods and 'I believe you's' after that, Vince and Jorge being the last two to join. Lucy looked visibly relieved at them trusting her to be telling the truth.

“Thank you guys, really. I promised to get him out of there and I intend to keep my word. Alright, we should probably get to planning then,” she said and stood up only to stumble and almost fall back down again. Brenda, who still was closest to her, caught her on instinct. Thomas suddenly realized that Lucy probably usually wasn't as pale as she was right now. “Uh, okay or maybe food first might be smart, I ran out two days ago.”

As if on cue Frypan appeared behind the group. “Did someone say food?” he asked. Lucy gave him a nod and a smile. “Well then come along you shanks, while you all were having a chat I made lunch. And you better tell me who our visitor is and why she's here while you're eating.” No one had any complains about that. The revelation of Newt still being alive and the shock that came with it had sucked the energy out of all of them and they needed to sit down for a moment and digest everything somehow.


	3. Newt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuck somewhere between nightmare and reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short update but I thought you guys would probably appreciate to know how Newt is doing. Writing this made me want to wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe so uh, I guess that already vaguely tells you how he's doing but read this to find out more  
> TW: death mention (in a way at least)

Nightmares. 

If he had to sum up his days it would be this.

Nightmares.

Reality and dream were hard to distinguish. How long had he been here already? When had Lucy left? 

Nightmares.

Stabbing Tommy. Becoming a Crank and killing his friends. Lucy being tortured in front of him. 

Nightmares.

Tommy yelling about how he hated him as he tried to kill Newt. Minho looking at him with disgust and leaving him on the floor of the Maze, left for the Grievers to find and kill. Lucy being a traitor, having worked with Wicked this entire time. 

Nightmares.

He got vaguely aware of the doctors taking him off the machine he was strapped into. He doesn't know how much time passed before the guards came to take him back to his cell. 

Newt needed to ground himself, anchor himself in reality. Lucy and him had practised this.

Could he trust her? He shook his head as if he could physically shake the thought off. Lucy betraying him was one of the nightmares, not reality. He needed to find the difference between dream and reality.

Breathe.

Tommy is his best friend. Minho would never leave him behind. His friends love him. Lucy was out there risking her life for him. They will come get him.

That's better. Breathe.

Once he was back in his cell and laying on his bed he waited until the guards should be far away enough. He counted each of his painful breaths. Once he got to sixty he scrambled into a sitting position which made him dizzy but he just pressed his eyes shut tightly until it eventually went away. 

His days seemed to consist of this, dizzy spells and bone deep fatigue, interspersed with moments of either absolute rage or sheer panic. Newt noticed his breathing had quickened again. It was really time to try to calm down he told himself. 

Okay. Right hand first. He squeezed his right hand with his left. Left next. He squeezed his left hand with his right hand.

Right upper arm. He squeezed it with his left hand. Opposite thing on the other side. Shoulders last. A squeeze to the right one and then to the left.

Ten deep breaths and let go. This would be so much easier if Lucy was here to go through the exercise with him. He felt right stupid doing it on his own but he needed to get aware enough of his body to feel at least somewhat like a real person and not just a shadow of himself.

He tried to gauge where the guards were through the little window in his cell door and it didn't seem like anyone was paying him any attention so he carefully reached under the bed where he hid the piece of paper between one of the slates of his bed and his mattress. 

Newt freed it carefully and then sat with his back to the door and unfolded it with shaking hands. Taking the paper out risked it being taken away and even potentially jeopardizing their plan but he just really needed this right now. He needed to ground himself more.

A drawing of Thomas as good as Lucy had been able to get it with Newt's description was smiling at him from the page. She had told him she had faked a fall in order to steal both the pencil and paper for it when she crashed into a table 'on accident'. 

They were both glad her little trick had worked. It was what had given Newt the possibility to write a letter for his friends too as well as having made it possible for Lucy and him to switch out some notes since she had managed to grab a small notepad. 

Under the drawing it read: **I will get you to him. I will get you to all of them. We will come back and get you out. You got this. Don't give up Newt. -Lucy**

Careful as to not smudge the drawing he ran a gentle finger over the paper and he couldn't stop the tears that started to silently fall down his cheeks even if he tried. Newt wasn't one to cry easily, definitely not, but those past months had tested and changed him in ways rarely anything had before. 

Plus when Lucy had noticed that he always tried not to cry in front of her, no matter how emotional the thing was they talked about, she had given him a talking to about how he should stop bottling up his emotions. It had been surprisingly effective. 

As Newt sat there with the drawing in his hands he felt desperation build in his chest. He wanted Tommy back. He wanted his friends back. He wanted to be out of this buggin' hell. Rarely had he ever felt so weak that he couldn't keep his facade of being fine up and he hated it. He didn't feel like himself. He just wanted this nightmare to stop.

Newt wasn't religious by any means but if despite everything there still was a god out there then he prayed that Lucy had reached his friends somehow. That she had convinced them he send her. That they were coming to get him. A familiar pang of guilt run through his chest at that thought. 

The entire plan had been Lucy's idea in the first place but he still felt terrible for having let her go out there alone and terrible for putting his friends at risk. But he also knew in his soul that if any of them had been stuck in his situation he would have wanted for them to send for help as well. 

And he knew his friends, knew them well, and knew that they would never have forgiven him, or themselves for that matter, if he hadn't tried to get himself rescued by them and if they had somehow found out later where he had been stuck, that he had been still alive. 

Plus Lucy was one hell of a stubborn person if he had ever met one and he knew she would have gone even without his permission and the last thing he wanted was to not give out information simply because he felt guilty and her having to figure out everything on her own. 

Now he just had to wait for his friends to come to him and had to hope like hell that they wouldn't get themselves killed in the same go.


	4. Lucy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are plans to be made and stories to be told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was on a roll this weekend with writing and editing so I'm uploading this chapter early too! Also thank you very much for the absolutely amazing feedback I already got on this fic! I appreciate you all so much! <3 
> 
> TW: panic attack and brief death mention (no one actually dies but it gets mentioned in regards to a nightmare)

Frypan's food was as delicious as Newt had told her. The fact that she hadn't eaten in two days probably only made it better.

She retold the story about why she had come to Safe Haven in between bites of her stew, trying to eat slowly because she knew her stomach would probably appreciate that. By the end of it, and with him filled in on everything too now, Frypan was crying and patted her shoulder a couple times. Brenda eventually pulled him into a hug to help him calm down. 

It was wonderful to meet all these people. Newt had told her so many stories about them that she almost felt like she already knew them. A sudden pang of pain went through her chest. She really missed Newt. 

If anyone had told her she would find such a good friend while held captive by Wicked she would have probably laughed at them. When the doctors had told her they would let her interact with another Immune at the facility she immediately thought it was a trap. Why else would they do anything that might benefit Lucy more then them?

Newt and her had been put into a white room with no windows, that had contained nothing more then a table and two chairs, and had been left to their own devices. They had just kind of had stared at each other for a while, both obviously distrusting the other. After a while Newt had sighed, linked his hands together and had leaned forward on the table and looked at her with exhausted but at least at the time still surprisingly alert eyes. 

“So I'm just gonna get to the bloody point, the docs said they're letting us talk so my system doesn't fully shut down from the Stressors they're using on me, that we're supposed to balance each other or some crap. I don't know how I'm supposed to even believe you're not another of Wicked's buggin Variables though,” he had said, his gaze calculating. 

Lucy had taken a deep breath to stay calm and stared back at him, trying to will her face into indifference. “I'm no damn Variable, I'm just as trapped here as you are. For all I know you're a damn Variable.”

Then they had jumped into either accusing each other of being part of Wicked or just staring at each other, trying to figure each other out. Newt could maintain a frown for impressive amounts of time. The thing had been though, occasionally Lucy had caught glimpses of Newt's demeanour softening and then snapping back to passive aggressively sitting there. It was as if he had wanted to trust her but wouldn't let himself. She had found herself wondering if someone had betrayed him before all this.

The next time they had met they had gotten along way better. It had been a force of circumstances though because when they had dropped Newt in the room with her he had been shaking, his skin pale as a sheet and had looked so downright miserable that Lucy hadn't been able to keep up her distrust anymore. Especially not when he had started to whimper out the name “Tommy” over and over again. His gaze had been very far away, his mind clearly not in the present, eyes wide open in shock. 

That was when Lucy had come up with her little grounding exercise. She had went around to his chair and crouched in front of him once the guards had left the room. It had taken her five tries until she got through to him and she had made him squeeze her hand with his right one. Then the other one. Then she had moved up to squeezing his upper arms and eventually his shoulders, always instructing him to squeeze hers too. Lucy had figured making him aware both of his own body and of someone else being there would help ground him in reality again. 

That first time she hadn't let go of his shoulders after she had made him take ten deep breaths and neither had he let go of hers. Newt had been staring at her the way a man lost at sea would stare at a singular stone reaching out of the water and she had started to just talk about anything. It had been clear he was fighting an internal battle to stay in the present and had desperately tried to concentrate on her for that. Which probably had been his best bet, there hadn't been much else in the room to concentrate on.

She had reintroduced herself, had told him her name is Lucy, she should be nineteen if she had kept track of time correctly, her favourite colour is blue, she's lonely and would like to be his friend. She had kept on talking and talking, anything to keep his mind out of whatever dark place it had been in before.

Once full clarity had reached his eyes he had apologized to her and thanked her for calming him down and it had become very clear that Newt usually was someone that liked trusting people. They had kept talking about this and that until the guards had picked them up to bring them back to their cells again.

Their meet ups had been allowed once a day and they had started to become friends, really good friends even, after a couple weeks at least. Shortly before Lucy had left they had reached a point where Newt almost was like brother to her and she had a feeling that she wasn't alone in thinking like that. 

Nothing quite for building close friendships then being each others only comfort while you're technically being tortured. 

It had turned out Wicked also had an interest in their friendship after all, as had shown itself when Newt had popped up in her fabricated nightmares for the first time and had stabbed her, her nightmare in return forcing her to kill him in the simulation. Seemed like even when they gave someone something good they would always just use it against them in the end. 

But Lucy was glad to have a friend again. She had been incredibly lonely for a long while when she still had been out in the Scorch, keeping to herself and whenever she had befriended people and groups it had always went to shit because-

Her thought process was interrupted by Jorge asking her a question. “So, not to stress, but what's your plan, hermana? Seeing as you're the one that managed to break out of Wicked somehow.”

Lucy looked up at them all staring at her expectantly. She swallowed the last bite of her stew and drank some water before answering. She really had to work on not zoning out so much. A lost endeavour she knew, but that didn't stop her from trying. Attempting to organize her thoughts so she could concentrate on getting her plan across, she spoke.

“We need to get a doctor first so we can get Newt's tracker out safely. One of the doctors fled Wicked roughly three months ago, if I can track her down and convince her to help us then we have that sorted out. Do you guys still have the Berg?”she asked.

Jorge nodded, grinning proudly. “Yes we do and you're looking at it's pilot with your own eyes,” Then he seemed to get stuck on a thought “Even though Newt probably told you that already.”

Lucy smiled at him. “Okay, that's great, we will definitely need it and your piloting skills, Jorge. Newt told me last time you got into Wicked disguised as guards, I would want to try the same again. Now we have one problem, if we want to make Newt's operation as safe as we can it preferably has to happen in the Wicked facility. So we either go in as stealthily as possible or we, well, basically take part of the building hostage for a bit. Since I would prefer the doc operating on Newt being calm, I would say we go with the stealth version.” Everyone nodded in agreement. They couldn't risk a shoot out unless there was absolutely no other choice.

Lucy continued on. “Now for the flying of a Berg, Newt will be unconscious for a while after the operation, so I would prefer to not cart him through the entire headquarters of Wicked, but instead get us all out over the roof.”

“And how do you plan to fly a Berg into the city without them shooting it down?” Vince asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically. Lucy had given this some thought already, now she only hoped it could also actually work.

“They won't shoot it down if they think it's one of theirs. You kidnapped a Berg before, right? As for why a Berg would need to fly directly to Wicked's headquarters, that's the most dangerous part of my plan,” she said, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. 

“They have a new leader as you probably don't know yet, a guy named Terris. If we kick off a security breach his evacuation is in immediate effect, he's...easily scared and also very concerned about his own safety. I overheard the guards outside my cell talk about the new security plans. So we need to sound the alarm and kidnap the Berg that would go get him. Just that we keep them back and get onto the Berg instead of him and then just book it out of there before they realize what happened. Then we gotta destroy the Bergs tracker once we're out of there and then switch back to our Berg or just take both of them,” she explained. 

Minho snorted. “I see why Newt became friends with you, your plans are just as insane as Thomas's”. Thomas gave him a fake offended look. “You wound me, Minho,” he said. Minho just patted his shoulder. “Yeah yeah, we all know it's true dude.” Thomas gave a tiny grin. “Fair point.” 

Lucy leaned forward on the bench and rested her chin in her palm. “Well, Newt said he, or all of you for that matter, always followed you anywhere Thomas, so I hope we can follow this plan this time too if it's up par with your usual ones. And if you guys think it's the plan that would work best that is.” It didn't slip her attention that Thomas took in a sharp little breath at the statement, his eyes darting down before he took another, deeper breath and seemed to try to compose himself. Slowly, he nodded.

“Yeah. I do think that plan sounds like our best bet for now, we should still discuss the details but I think it could work,” he rasped out. Lucy wondered what in her statement had hit him so hard but decided to leave it for another time. Minho seemed to have noticed Thomas' reaction too and put a comforting hand onto his shoulder while Thomas grasped onto the necklace under his shirt again.

She was glad to see he still wore it. Newt had told her he had given him a letter in a necklace but she didn't know what was written in it. He hadn't wanted to talk about it, especially not while Wicked could have been listening in. That had been more then understandable. Plus she figured whatever was written in that letter was between him and Thomas only.

That train of thought took her back to the memory of the day some months ago when she had figured out just how much Thomas means to Newt. She had had her suspicions before that already but it had been so in the back of her mind that she had never given it much thought, especially with everything else that had been going on. 

Newt got this certain type of look in his eyes when he talked about Thomas, always referring to him as “Tommy” apart from when he talked about times when he had been angry at him, to the point that even Lucy herself had almost called Thomas 'Tommy' on instinct earlier. She also knew that Newt was the only one who called him that though so she didn't want to overstep any boundaries.

It had clicked into place for her that day when Newt had told her about their escape from the mall in the Scorch. He had talked about Minho and Thomas going off on their own and attracting trouble as always apparently. Had talked about Thomas saving him from the Crank that had attacked him. Thomas Runner skills had seemingly also come in very handy when he had held the door with all the Cranks behind it closed and then had proceeded to outrun them. Newt had seemed equal parts scared and admiring when he had talked about that last part. 

He had continued on in his story and had told her they had hidden in some ruins after escaping the mall. Newt's leg had been in agony from the running and the fall he had taken because of the Crank so he hadn't been able to sleep even after everyone else had fallen asleep from exhaustion. He apparently hadn't thought anyone was still awake when suddenly Thomas had plopped down next to him, which had halted Newt effectively in trying to rub out the tension in the muscles of his leg. 

As he had told her, with a silent “Let me help,” Thomas had carefully taken his foot into his lap and had tried to help him get the tension out of his muscles. So they had worked together, Thomas carefully massaging Newts ankle and calf and Newt the rest of his leg until he had felt better. Thomas had apparently thanked him for giving him the feeling of being able to do something actually helpful once they had been done. 

Newt had scoffed in his retelling at that part and had called him a 'bloody idiot' so fondly that suddenly everything had fallen into place for Lucy.

She hadn't wanted to just blurt out “You're in love with him.” when Wicked could have been listening in so she had done the next best thing she had thought of. Lucy had gotten up and hugged a very perplexed Newt so she could talk as silently as possible and had whispered “I know now.”

Newt had tensed in her arms for a moment before returning the hug and simply saying “Good that,” with a little laugh in his voice. He had sounded relieved and she had figured that he had probably been subtly trying to tell her since a while now. Afterwards she had sprouted some random stuff about how she knew that must have been a very scary day, to cover up her statement in case Wicked caught on somehow, while giving Newt a very meaningful look that he had thankfully understood based on the little nod he had given her.

She was brought back to the present by Gally leaning forward and fixing her with a stare. Damn, she really needed to try to stop spacing out. 

“It's probably not a fun memory but I would like to know how you escaped Wicked? I mean you were all alone, how did you do that? And how did you manage to find us?”he asked. It seemed as if even he was a bit more open towards her now if still distrustful. Which she understood, trust was earned and she would do her best to get there. Lucy took a deep breath. He was right, it was not a fun memory but she figured it might be important for them to know. 

“Well, the planning part was hard. Obviously Newt and me couldn't just talk about it since Wicked was probably listening in on us so I started secretly slipping him notes and vice versa that we would destroy later on. We did the rest of it over stories that sounded like funny anecdotes but actually were code or hints for things. We would tap each others foot twice with ours when we would start one of those stories. Newt tried to describe your old hideout to me by talking about a house he would like to have and then slipping me a note with some directions later that I memorized before I destroyed the paper.”

She turned to give Vince a little smile. “He also made up a story about how Vince always put an X on his food packs like a pirate would mark a treasure. That's how I found the ceiling tile with the tiny X in your old hideout by the sea, the one that covered the hole in the ceiling where you kept the emergency copies of the maps to Safe Haven. And that's how I found my way here with the fishing boat I recovered. So that's how we planned everything and how I even got this far.” Everyone was attentively listening to her talk and Lucy even saw Vince give a little scoff at the pirate thing.

“As for the actual getting out part. It was a mix of luck, squeezing myself through vents and using panic as a tool. I managed to nick a scalpel from the medical bay and opened the vents with it. I left during the morning rush of everyone coming in for work because I needed to have as many people there as possible and it had to be before they would come get Newt and me. I flagged down one of the nurses already at work and threatened her into taking out my tracker and then knocked her out and took her lab coat and key card. That's how I got to the ground level,” she explained. 

“Ever since I assume your last break in the side doors are just as heavily guarded as the front door so I couldn't go through there and I didn't have the time to nick a guard uniform because I had to get out before they realized that I was gone. Everyone in that building knows that they have Cranks for experimentation there though so you can imagine me yelling out that a Crank escaped caused quite the panic. I used that distraction of the guards to slip out with everyone else running from the building.

Then it was only a matter of threatening my way into getting supplies, felt sorry for the poor shop owner but couldn't be helped, and then sneaking my way into one of the few vehicles that leaves the city and escaping that once it stopped at one of their outposts. As well as then also escaping that outpost without being noticed. It was the convoy transporting the corpses out of the city if you need to know. They don't like keeping them inside the walls. Well and then I nicked one of the cars of the soldiers accompanying the convoy, destroyed it's tracker and was off on my way.” Lucy shuddered at the memory of the corpse convoy. She could certainly do with never having to do that again

“So yeah, that's the short version of how I got out of there,” she said, looking at everyone's faces. Their expression reached from practically awe (Thomas) to shock (Gally) to outright glee (Jorge). 

Minho clapped her on the shoulder. “You know what Greenie, you were right, your plans are definitely up par with Thomas's.” And Lucy could see from the laughter in Thomas eyes when he scoffed and told Minho off that even Thomas couldn't really argue with that apparently. Then the brunet cleared his throat. 

“Well then, now that we have a rough plan and a bit more info about how to get out of Wicked” Thomas said, linking his hands together on the table, his eyes filled with determination. “Let's plan the details of how to get Newt back.”


End file.
